K.T. Presents… Gang Classics

It is safe to say that this media enterprise’s decade-long tradition of Start of Summer, End of Summer, and Christmas clips has fallen into memories of the prosperous first-half of the 2010s. At a time when Swedish filmmakers deride the quality of skateboarding simply being tossed onto Instagram — between regular posts and tricks for the story — who really has time to carry a #realcamera around unless you’re filming for some big video project that Logan may or may not ever release?

As the iPhone has become our most oft-used video device, the #realcamera has become reserved for traveling i.e. when enthusiasm is high. If you’re lucky enough to blow off work in the middle of the week to go skate with your friends, sometimes it’s better to leave the pressures of “well, I brought the camera out” at home.

Over the past year or so, Kevin’s videos have made me perpetually jealous of all the times I decided to stay in and be responsible rather than ditching a pile of un-responded-to emails to go skateboard. They’re not everyone going their hardest, but they are representative of what it’s like to leave a skatepark, and try skate street at a bunch of decent-enough spots that you’ve skated a thousand times before in 2017.

Bloby Comp

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In an age of “four video parts in a year,” overexposure is easy. Just as there were montage heroes in the video magazine era (who you were hard-pressed to find more than 45-seconds of consecutive footage from), favorite skaters now thrive on the explore page. Scarcity breeds value, and fifteen-second samplings leave you wanting more than two-song parts. Brandon Biebel elevated himself into numerous people’s favorite skater status this year off Instagram alone — despite having been around ~15 years. I was at a skatepark in Chicago earlier this fall where grown-ups were literally in shock that they were watching @jscott_handsdown skate IRL, and mulling about whether they’d seem too crazy asking for a photo with him.

Most stateside people were up on the Blobys since Café Clope dropped last year. Since then, barring a quick part here or a remix video there, the majority of their output and ascent to being the most recognizable Parisians on skateboards, has lived on IG.

A random guy on YouTube (“MrManeBeast”) came through with a serviceable IG comp of all of them. Keep in mind that the skating stops at the 5:48 mark, where the video turns into a Fetty Wap / anime mash-up, making it feel like the dude taped his Instagram comp over an old VHS tape.

Also IG related — what?